Fourth of July!!

The kids and I went camping! For the first time in their lives, and for my first time since college! So my whole family was there. Melanie and Aaron came from Lehi, Ut., Chris and Christine came from Caldwell, Mom, Dad, Jaybo, Cameron and Casey came from Nampa, and we came from Rexburg! Out of everyone, we had the shortest drive. Can't complain there. It was two hours away but that was taking the long way. My dad found a short cut for me for the way back and it cut off about a half hour, I think, I'm not sure because we made a ton of stops on the way home.

Anyway, it was a campground outside American Falls off a place called Sublett Road. Melanie and Aaron were the first to arrive, so they found the place and marked the trail for the rest to follow. I happened to meet them at the reservoir that was somewhat nearby. Here is a picture of Anna and Aunt Melanie playing therein. It was actually really dirty and smelly. In fact, the first thing Matthias said about it was, "That's disgusting!" It was. I did not go in. We all packed up and drove 10-ish miles to the campsite. We camped next to this hill, which Matthias is gleefully exploring:
This pic of Morgan is so darn cute. I love my nephew!
More exploration. Anna and Morgan were holding hands. It was super sweet.
In the meantime, Matthias was enthralled by this watering trough of sorts, right next to our site. It was pretty nasty water on the inside of it, but out that little pipe on the left there was pouring (more like "dripping") clear, clean water. We decided it was from a spring. Some of us drank it. None have died. Matthias loved that thing, though. Many times throughout the days, he would contently sit thusly and watch:


While we waited for the others to arrive, I got out the bubbles and let the kids play. Morgan really wanted a turn to blow the bubbles so I held the wand to his mouth. Well, he wasn't interested in letting me help, so he took the wand from me and promptly ate it. Matthias did the same thing, just to follow. It was so funny. We were laughing so hard because Matt of course spat it out as one would expect, but Morgan seemed to enjoy it. He kept the wand there in his mouth for quite a while until Melanie told him to take it out. Then comes the funnier part. After the wand tasting experiment, Matthias and Morgan started blowing bubbles out their mouths! Morgan said "mine! Mine!" and every time he said "mine" a bubble would emerge! I think Matthias burped a bubble.... It was sooooo funny, how I wish you'd been there!

Anna and Matt climbed this hill, which is considerably steeper than it looks. It was a little too hard to walk back down, so this was their method of return:
Cuteness:So I know this blog appears to star Morgan more than my own children but here he is again. He couldn't resist the mud, much to the dismay of his mother:
Finally Chris and Christine arrived. At which point, Aaron and Melanie began to prepare dinner. They made chili beans from a can (Nalley, mmmm) and something else. They had forgotten a pot so Aaron opened the chili can a little and placed on top the fire pit grill thing. I took a picture. I uploaded said picture and then my internet connection was lost. All the pics I'd uploaded became un-uploaded. I came back once the connection was re-established and found all the pictures except the chili can over the fire pit one. It totally disappeared and I'm totally bummed. I thought it was funny though, which is why I mention it.

Here's Kaien helping Anna transport a chair. It was cute. Joyful cousin reunions.... I remember the days...
I end this blog here. More to come. I have to go to bed.